Moonlight
by Mind's Odyssey
Summary: How could someone say that with an emotionless face? How much can I take? What do you think I am, a lab rat? * You'd been discovered, and you'd be banned from there forever * I know it's weird to see this coming out from me, but I want to tell you… * When this night vanished, the three-day respite would shatter * I found it, at last. It is…... Xemnas one shot. Rated T just in case.


**Kingdom Hearts One Shots Series  
04 – Moonlight**

Pairing: Xemnas x Reader (Name: Mina)

Mina sighed in relief when she had finally done cleaning yet another spacious room. She was working as a maid in a mansion in Radiant Garden, and a _very_ big one she had ever imagined. The master of the mansion, Master Ansem, took her in when she was thirteen. At first she wasn't quite used to work in an extravagant place, since she had been living in a worn-out small wooden hut somewhere in the streets, far away from there. After five years, Mina was getting used to a live as a maid.

Well, life wasn't easy, but she had nothing to complain about, since living in a mansion was way better than living in the streets. Besides, she could still cope with it; the master didn't mistreat her, nor did his wife. And they had a son, though Mina didn't know him very much. From what she had heard from her fellow co-workers, he was kind of hard to deal with. She was very devoted to her job, so they were quite impressed by her services. She thought things were going to be as smooth as the current situation convinced her, but one day…

She was now standing before a big door to Master Ansem's study, because she was wanted by him, and she didn't had the slightest idea why. Though apprehensive, Mina was still confident of her work. "I had never messed up anything handed to me… So I'm just being exaggerated, that's all, yeah…" She calmed your thoughts and tugged at her uniform a little. Then she knocked at the wooden door. "Come in." The master's voice came out muffled through the door. She pushed the door open to see him at his study table, full of letters, papers, books and whatnot. He glanced at her and said, "Ah, it's you, Mina." "Yes, I heard that you wanted to see me," she said.

"Indeed. Actually, I want to give you another job…" He was done arranging his papers, and now he adjusted himself to face her properly. His eyes scanned at her, and that unnerved her, but she asked anyway, "Sure, what was it?" "I want you to serve Xemnas, my son."

… Come again?

"… Huh? Oh, yes… Sure…?" Mina tried to hide the question mark at the end of her sentence. "Are you sure? You sound hesitant…" He didn't look convinced. She shook her head and replied, "No, what I meant was, I am glad to do this." "Good. I was beginning to think he needs someone to help him, and you are the only one I find suitable and capable." She tried to force out a smile, and replied, "Thank you, Master." "Okay… You may go now." After she gave a bow, she left the large study.

"Curse you, pride…" Mina muttered under her breath while she headed to yher destination, the infamous Xemnas' room. She was supposed to bring him his breakfast, even though the position of the sun told her it was nearly noon. "You could've just rejected it back then, Mina… What was I thinking…" Before she realized it, she was already standing before another wooden door. She let out a soft sigh and shrugged. "Well, since I had taken the job, might as well do my best. I mean, I only have to serve him, nothing more, nothing less, right? How hard could it be?" She slapped her cheeks softly with her hand, and then convinced herself in her mind, "Yes, you can do it, Mina. You are the best around here, according to Master…"

After Mina straightened herself, she felt some confidence flowed back to her. And she proceeded to knock at the door. _Knock, knock._

No response came at all.

Mina knocked harder this time, and immediately the door flew open to reveal a sleepy, and irritated silver-haired man. He was still in his night attire and he seemed to have just woken up. His golden orange eyes narrowed at her as he hissed in annoyance, "What?" She was startled by his sudden "grand" appearance, but she quickly composed herself and replied in her refined manners, "I had brought you your breakfast, Sir Xemnas."

He muttered, "Whatever, just leave it at the table over there. And don't touch _anything_." Her brain interpreted that as a warning rather than an order, and she replied, "Yes, sir." Mina walked swiftly to the table indicated and placed the tray on it. Her gaze wandered to his bed, and she had to stop herself from smacking a palm onto her face; it was in a horrible mess. The blanket was kicked aside and the pillows were placed haphazardly on the bed. Being the perfectionist in cleanliness as she always was, she subconsciously took a step to his bed. But suddenly Mina stopped herself, and a message appeared in her mind: Don't touch _anything_.

Mina started to head out, but only to accidentally bump into the man before her. She staggered backwards a few steps and managed to balance herself, saving her from falling down ungracefully at the moment. He stared at her and asked, "Where do you think you're going?" She was surprised, but she answered nevertheless, "I am going to head out, since I had done my job here…" Her voice trailed off to the end of the sentence. And now her palms were getting damp.

Xemnas scoffed and said, "Did you not see the bed unmade over there?" Mina looked up, and then followed his finger which indicated the direction. "I -" She didn't even have time to finish her words when he interrupted, "Do you think you're done with your job?" She had to stave off a look of disbelief; she thought he warned her not to touch _anything_? Mina wanted to argue, but she was not in a position to do so, so instead she replied, "Yes, sir. I'm working on it."

As soon as she got to the bed, she flattened out the blanket and he added, "Don't fold it, mind you." "Yes, sir." After she made it through, she arranged the pillows, and he was giving her instructions to arrange them in some funny pattern that resembled a heart, but not exactly like it. And man, Mina had a hard time, because whenever she was about to put it in the right position, he would take his previous order back and gave another one.

And after she was finally done, she was asked to get lost, so she got out immediately before he changed his ridiculously weird mind for the umpteenth time again. Once Mina made it back to her room, she closed the door and leaned against it, breathing heavily from the running earlier. "What… what was he… thinking?!" After she recovered her breath, she sat down on her bed, thinking things through. "It's only the first day, and I seemed to be in deep trouble…" Seriously, she even wondered how she managed to keep her rising temper in place, even though she was not someone short tempered. Mina sighed, "What was wrong with him…?"

* * *

For the next few days, she was totally exhausted for once in her life. Cleaning up the whole mansion would seem promising than serving that strange (Or should she put, eccentric) man! Xemnas liked to order her around and watched in amusement when she was busy running around as if possessed, complying with his orders. She had lost count of the things (which she dubbed as "Mission Impossible") he wanted her to do; telling her to drown a goldfish, climb trees in the garden just to retrieve his paper airplane (which was nonexistent in the first place), replace his soup thirteen times only because a small speck of pepper was in it (The soup tasted horrible without it, but after she came back with a new one, he asked her to put in pepper again), rearrange his belongings on his desk… numerous times with totally different arrangements etc. etc. etc. The list was too long. Without Mina realizing, the flames of fury had risen proportionally to his "antics". Still she didn't tell anyone about this, including Master Ansem. After all, it was _her_ responsibility to serve him…

One day, she was bringing his clean and dry clothes from the laundry room to his room. She had already imagined a lot of scenarios that would happen later when she got there. Maybe he would just so happened to have lost his pen and wanted her to flip the whole room inside out, only to find the pen was in his pocket all along. Or maybe he would want her to clean the spider webs in the corners, which in fact shouldn't be any since she had already made damn sure not even a tiny layer of dust deposited in anywhere possible in his room. Or maybe something even more ridiculous than what her imagination told her.

And now Mina was standing before the door which she wished didn't exist in the first place. "Here comes 'Mission Impossible Chapter 29'," she sighed internally. After she took a deep breath, she held the clothes in one arm, and knocked on the door with another. After she made sure he pronounced his permission to enter utterly clear, she opened the door and saw him sitting on a chair by his desk. He was writing something on a piece of paper, and Mina said, "I am here to bring you your clothes, Sir Xemnas. Where do you wish me to put them?" His delayed response came after some wait, "In the closet, of course." "Really? I thought you were going to ask me to hang them on the ceiling…" she thought sarcastically. And she proceeded to the large closet at the corner. She opened the closet door and she nearly jumped out of her skin: Her friend, Kairi, was in the closet, her hands and legs tied up. She had a cloth in her mouth and she couldn't speak. When she saw Mina, a muffled whimper came out from her and she fell out onto the floor. Mina gasped loudly and the clothes dropped to the floor in a heap.

She helped her up and started to untie the ropes binding her, asking away, "No wonder I couldn't find you anywhere, you were in there this whole time?!" After Mina pulled the cloth out of her mouth, she nodded and a hoarse voice came out of her throat, which Mina find it inaudible. "I thought you would be scared to death, it seems my predictions were not so accurate," a voice Mina wanted to erase from existence rang, and she spun around and glared at Xemnas, who had turned around to look at them both, with a slightly amused look on his face, which she wanted to punch so hard at the moment.

That was the last straw, she decided it. And now her last line of barrier against the boiling anger had just snapped. She growled, "Do you think it is amusing to trap someone harmless like her in that suffocating closet?" Mina felt like exploding when she heard his response, "I merely wanted to see how much can you take." How could someone say that with an emotionless face? "How much can I take? What do you think I am, a lab rat?" Without realizing, Mina had thrown her refined manners she manifested when dealing with this family out of the window. She continued, "Do you find it amusing at all? She could've died if I didn't come here! You had put me through so much unreasonable tests, and I still didn't complain at all. And now you endanger my friend for that?"

Xemnas was slightly taken aback by her anger, but he said, "It is boring to see all the maids in this mansion completing tasks in the same manner. I want to see how they could manage to cope with this. I had gotten sick of their cautious and overly submissive attitude when they serve their masters." Her eyes widened in bewilderment, and she was speechless. He continued, "You indeed are different, capable of surviving through those tasks I gave. That piqued my curiosity to find out how much can you take -" Mina didn't let him finish this time, because she slapped her burning hot palm right across his face. He flinched, and fell back onto his chair. She felt blood charging up into her head, and she didn't even contemplate her actions. Talk about hotheaded with a capital "H". (Axel pun, I couldn't resist)

Everything around her seemed to be frozen, and she straightened up, gritted her teeth and growled, "You got your answer now. I can only take _this_ much!" And then, Mina took the clothes on the floor and grabbed Kairi's hand. The poor girl was too frightened by what she witnessed just now. Mina said, "I will wash the clothes again, so pardon me for leaving first." And then, she stormed out of the room with Kairi, leaving the startled man behind. He was speechless, even with the slight stinging pain in his right cheek. He could only stare at the still opened door, trying not to let his jaw drop… _What… who is that girl?_

* * *

"_Mina__! What were you thinking?!" wailed Kairi, trembling in fright. Mina just sat there on her bed, slumped. Now what did she do? She just slapped the person she was supposed to serve, now she's finished, big time. She was lucky if she got away safely. "I… I don't know, Kairi… I just… *sigh*" Kairi started to cry and she mumbled in between sobs, "I'm s-sorry, it's m-my f-fault…" Mina patted her shoulder gently and reassured, "It's okay, Kairi. You have nothing to do with this. I'll bear this responsibility myself. You'll be fine… okay?"_

"Mina?" A voice came to her and she shook her head vigorously to snap out of her thoughts. She turned to her left and saw Kairi, she looked worried. She asked, "Are you alright? You don't look good there…" Mina tried to smile and replied, "I'm as good as I'll ever be. Relax…" _"Liar," _Her thoughts retorted. To be honest, she was anxious about what would befall her for slapping Xemnas. Although she told herself the worst that could happen to her was getting fired, she wasn't convinced.

To make matters worse, she was asked to bring out the family's lunch to the dining hall. Oh joy… One apprehensive step after another, she pushed the trolley containing their lunch to the dining hall. After she was granted the permission to enter, she cautiously placed every plate and bowl onto the long dining table, while keeping her head lowered all the time, especially when she put _his_ food before him.

Ansem seemed to notice that and he asked, "Is there anything wrong? You don't look well." "Huh?" Mina looked up abruptly, as if someone caught her in the middle of stealing something. she quickly made up a lie, "No, no, I'm fine. Thank you for your concern, Master." "Is Xemmy giving you a hard time?" Ansem's wife asked, eying the silver-haired man over the other side. She fought to keep a straight face upon hearing his nickname. She saw him almost choked on his food out of the corner of her eye. This time, she thought keeping it a secret would be a better option, so she made up yet another lie, "No, not at all. He treats me quite well, and I'm happy to serve him." Mina cringed internally at "well" and "happy". Seriously, she hated lying.

"Is that so…" said the wife. Ansem nodded approvingly and said, "Very well. You are indeed a capable girl." Gosh, that was kind of embarrassing…

Other than the awkward moment when the owners of this mansion questioned her, things were pretty smooth. When she headed out to do other chores, she swore she saw Xemnas staring at her. Well, it seemed the gods above still loved her, and she made it through in one piece. When Mina got back, Kairi looked as worried as ever, but after she told her what happened, she was relieved. After that, Mina took a broom and headed to the foyer to clean up…

* * *

It was midnight, everyone was in dreamland, but only Mina was awake. She always waited for the night eagerly and sneaked out to one place – the piano room. Every night she would come here to play the piano silently. Actually, her father was a pianist when he was alive. He was the one to teach her how to play the piano. Sadly, pianists couldn't earn some living in this place, and soon he died of a disease when she's really young. And since her mother died when giving birth to her, after his demise, she was all alone. But she wouldn't stop thinking about them. Their faces were still vivid in her mind, and the only thing that kept her "connected" to them was the black and white keys before her. Mina sat down after opening the cover of the piano. She caressed the keys in a loving manner, and she started to play a tune.

This tune was taught to her when she's five, the first time she came across it was when she heard her father playing it at night. She was madly obsessed with it even though she had only heard it once, and she begged her father to teach her. She still remembered the nights when she sat beside her father, pressing the keys slowly one by one to learn, and she used up a lot of time to learn it, for she wasn't born with the talent. But even so, Mina didn't know the name of this piece. Neither did her father, he claimed he traded the nameless music sheet from someone. He even said it was a pity of not knowing the name of this wonderful piece, when he was alive, and just before he took his last breath.

She slipped her eyes closed, still playing the piano. Her thoughts were a thousand miles away from her, and she felt herself at peace, as if safe in her parents' warm embrace. Mina considered this to be a good stress relief, even if she only knew how to play only this one melody. And she personally thought the tune went well with the moonlit night, and sometimes even matched with her mood. She didn't tell anyone about her secret visiting routine to the piano room to anyone, not even her best friend. This was the only one side she wished to keep to herself. She didn't know what people would think or do if they caught wind of it.

She was totally mesmerized in the reverberating melody, her fingers danced smoothly and gracefully across the piano keys, yet not creating any noise that was too loud. She felt her soul combined with the piano and the notes reflected her inner thoughts: longing and quite sad at the same time. Still, tears never fell whenever she thought of them. Mina made a silent promise not to shed a tear, for her was sure her parents would be saddened to see her crying.

Little did she know, a person was watching her in the dark, behind the door. The person was intrigued by the mysterious melody she played, but the person kept his or her presence a secret, never to be divulged…

* * *

Ever since that awkward lunch, Xemnas stopped being a jerk, as she self-dubbed. He didn't demand her to complete unreasonable tasks anymore, and he stopped being so picky. She found her life relatively easier, and she was thankful of that. Nonetheless, Mina avoided interactions with him as much as possible; she was still worried of her outburst that day. And she wasn't great at putting her feelings in words. Besides, apologizing would make it even weirder than it already was. There was only thing he was persistent of: She was not to enter his room without his permission, be it bringing food or clothes or whatever. Therefore, she had to pass him his things at the door, and man, she was so curious about what he was cooking up. Yet she couldn't ask, who knows what he would do when you did so.

One day, when Mina was back from buying the ingredients for dinner, Kairi came up to her and said, "Hey Mina, Master Ansem wanted me to pass a message to you." "What is it?" she asked. "It's Sir Xemnas… he said he is sick at the moment, and he wanted you to bring him his medicine right away," replied Kairi. "Oh… okay, sure."

Now, she was once again before Xemnas's room, with his medication on a tray in her hands. As usual, she knocked and waited for him to open the door and take the things without letting her in. But, no response came after waiting. Mina thought he was too sick to even get up, so she decided to ignore the order for now, and carefully opened the door. She peeked around only to find no one in the room. She walked in, closing the door behind her. She saw a lot of papers on his desk, and she put some aside to make a clearing for her to put the tray down. Suddenly a gust of wind blew through from the window and the papers flew around. She was about to put them back, when something on one of the papers caught her eyes: the word "piano".

"Piano?" Mina wondered, and proceeded to read the papers, which was full of spidery handwriting. As she read on, she realized this was his diary, and what shocked her even more, he wrote this in one of the paragraphs:

_I was at the piano room door again. That girl was playing the piano, the same tune as the nights before. Somehow the melody wasn't boring, but intriguing… I had never thought that girl had such talent. I wonder what the name of that piece was._

She couldn't read on anymore, the papers dropped from her cold hands. She had been discovered, and she would be banned from there forever if she's unlucky. That meant forever away from her only way to remember her parents… No way… Mina covered her mouth and stopped a gasp of shock. She decided to keep this discovery of hers a secret and get out of this room. NOW. She whipped around and dashed for the door, just then…

"BAM!" "OW!" "Ah!"

Too bad, she crashed into the last person she wanted to see right now: Xemnas.

"What are you doing here?" he stood up and asked. Mina stood up immediately and fumbled for words, "I-I was… I was bringing you your medicine. You are sick, and where have you been?" Come to think of it, when she crashed into him, his body temperature was lower than usual. He was about to say something, but his eyes widened a little when his gaze averted to the desk. The papers were a little too neat. "You…" said Xemnas, realizing she may have read through the papers. "I -" "Get out." Mina looked right into his eyes, and she saw two pools of irritation and… anxiety? But she didn't need to be told twice, so she ran as fast as her legs could carry her out of the room. Xemnas stood there alone, staring at the papers. A quiet yet sad laugh escaped his mouth, he said, "She had found out…"

* * *

Mina was now at the piano room although it was nearly two o'clock in the morning. She was confused and frustrated at the same time; how could she not notice there was someone peeking on her all this long? Since her jumbled up emotions couldn't be expressed verbally, she released them onto the piano. She started out as a quiet melody and then the anxiety was getting more and more intense. Just when she's still playing, she heard some footsteps at the door. She stopped what she's doing altogether and whipped her head to the door, even if she already had a vague idea who would be there.

Xemnas stood there, staring at her with the door already closed behind him. Mina then broke the eye contact with him and looked at the other side. Still, he walked over to her slowly and finally stopped a few steps near her. An awkward silence reigned in the absence of the melody she played just now. After some time, he cleared his throat and took the initiative to break the ice, "About earlier… I… I'm truly sorry." She felt a slight shiver running down her spine when she heard his voice. And then Mina slowly shook her head, and replied while still looking down at the floor, "No. I should apologize too… I shouldn't have read those papers…"

_This is it, he is going to ban me from here forever…_ "… Go on," said Xemnas suddenly. She was taken aback, and she mumbled, "What?" This time, she landed her gaze at him, and she saw him staring at her. He quickly looked somewhere else while saying, "I mean… continue to play that tune." Why were things happening in the way she least expected lately? Nevertheless, Mina slowly nodded awkwardly, and adjusted her seat. She sat facing the piano keys and she played the tune all over again. She tried not to let the trembling to affect her hands, and thankfully it didn't. She had never played a piano in front of anyone else. He shifted near to the chair, watching her play silently. When she's in the middle of somewhere in the song, he asked out of the blue, "What's the name of this piece?" She never expected him to talk to her, but she still answered anyways, "I don't know… My father taught me this, but we never get to know its name." After a few seconds, he sighed quietly, "That's too bad, wish I knew the name of this beautiful piece."

Even though Mina's hands were still moving like nothing happened, her thoughts froze. He had just said the exact same last sentence her father uttered when he was about to meet his demise after being plagued by a chronic disease for years. She forced herself to focus on the piano solely, but her thoughts just had to picture her father's figure. Slowly but surely, her fingers stopped dead on the black and white keys, and the welled-up tears finally flowed from her now red eyes. Mina started to sob, and it was getting out of control. And she leaned on top of the piano, burying her head in her arms, sobbing. He was surprised to see her in this state, but he just stood there, staring at her. "Father…" She let a strangled voice escaped her mouth.

Xemnas didn't know what to do, but he slowly sat down beside her on the piano chair. He looked at her, and then he awkwardly patted her shoulder gently. She couldn't take it anymore; the flooding sorrow memories, and she threw herself into his arms, hugging him like no tomorrow. she sobbed into his shirt, and she couldn't care that much at the moment. Xemnas was utterly shocked, and then he began to hug her back slightly in an awkward manner.

When Mina woke up in the next morning, her eyes were a little puffy from crying so much. All she remembered was she cried so much and eventually her eyelids began to get heavy. And she must have fallen asleep at some point. "Did he bring me to my room after that?" she thought. She thought what happened yesterday was just a silly dream, but when she saw Xemnas at the dining room eating his breakfast, he had some dark circles under his orange eyes, and he couldn't stop yawning. She thought to herself, "Maybe it wasn't after all…" And then, Mina shook her head slightly and braced herself; a new day had come, and she still had a life to live anyways. No point dwelling on that sorrowful past.

* * *

For the next few weeks, Mina had observed an astonishingly change in Xemnas. Besides stopped being unreasonable, he seemed to drop his almighty stance around her. Although he didn't show this in public, she could always catch some tiny details like arranging his things himself, putting his plates and cutlery neatly on the table, as if he was trying to reduce her workload. He also became less demanding to her. In overall, his behavior was rather weird. And she was starting to get used to his old behavior…

Furthermore, he would always make it to the piano room at exact one o'clock every night (Or in this case, morning). Initially he would just stand there watching Mina play, but as soon as time flew, he would sit beside her and bug her to teach him how to play that nameless melody. But he was even worse than her when it came to playing it, so she ended up playing it herself, with him glaring at the keys. He would mutter that the keys looked all the same to him, and she just have to laugh softly at him. Who would've thought a man like him would act like a child sometimes?

One night, Mina was sitting before the piano as usual, but she wasn't playing. Or should she put it, _couldn't_ play. She accidentally cut her finger with a knife when she's in the kitchen in the afternoon, and now her finger was bandaged. Later, he arrived as well, and he sat down beside her again. He was silent, and he noticed her unusually "bulky" finger. "Sorry, I cut my finger earlier…" she said apologetically. He didn't say anything, but merely picked up her hand with the injured finger and started to examine it carefully.

Both of them blushed, and he let go of her hand once he realized what he was doing. And to her worst luck, her hand fell and hit the side of the piano, and her finger flared in pain abruptly. Mina bit back a pained moan, and she bit it so hard that her lower lip bled a little. Oops. He seemed to notice it and he raised a hand and put it at her left cheek, wiping the blood away softly with his thumb. What could be more surprising than this? Without knowing, they looked into each others' eyes. She was getting lost in his two orange orbs…

But then they broke away, blush prominent on the their faces. Xemnas quickly pulled out a small note and squeezed it into her palms. Before Mina could question him, he said, "We should head back, it's getting really late." She wanted to protest, but she nodded, and then he left. Soon, she got up and closed the cover of the piano neatly. When she was back in her room, she opened the slightly crumpled note and read it silently:

_I saw your finger bandaged up this afternoon. I hope you are alright. Actually I wanted to tell you something… How should I put it? I always get this bizarre feeling when I am around you, and it confuses me. I know it's weird to see this coming out from me, but I want to tell you… I guess I like you…_

She felt lightheaded all of a sudden. Xemnas, the used-to-be jerk, her master's only son, the person she served, _likes_ her? Actually, she recalled all the encounters with him, and she would be lying if she claimed she didn't enjoy his company. And then she realized she felt the same way too. "So that's why I always feel my heart was going to burst out of my chest whenever he's near me…" Mina was about to run into his room to tell him, but it was almost 3 in the morning, and she still had to get up early. She then decided to tell him tomorrow in the piano room…

Morning came eventually and she was coming down from a large flight of stairs. She was somewhat in a good mood today, when she was taking a turn, she heard a voice which belonged to Xemnas. "What?" He sounded astonished, and her curiosity beckoned her to check it out. When she got closer, she could hear Master Ansem's voice. He sounded stern.

"Xemnas, you're already 23 years old, and I believe it's time for you to -"  
"But -"  
"You will marry Miss XXX from Town XX three days later, and that's final!"

She felt thunder hit her out of the blue upon hearing the conversation. _He… what?!_ Mina felt her knees went weak and her body was wobbly like jelly. The last thing that flashed before her eyes was the staircase coming at her…

* * *

Mina felt very awful… Not to mention a throbbing headache was still torturing her. When she woke up, the family doctor, Zexion, was beside her. Kairi was there too, with worry written all over her face. He said she hurt her knees when she fainted and fell off the stairs, but thankfully she didn't suffer a bone fracture or hit her head. Zexion also advised her not to walk, not after a few days' rest. She thanked him in a quiet voice, and then he left. After that, she didn't say anything else. Kairi had to leave, for she still had work to do. She assured Mina she would take over her job for the next few days. Hours passed, and night befell this place. She ate nothing since breakfast, but she didn't feel hungry at all. Her tears streamed down all this while, and she fell asleep soon. "He… wasn't even… here…"

Meanwhile, Xemnas locked himself in his room. He was pacing back and forth, irritated and frustrated. Whenever he wanted to go out, there would be guards outside his room, prohibiting him from going out. "Shoot… They are spying on me…" he muttered under his breath, clenching his fists. "Mina... How was she doing now…?" He could not do a thing but sigh. "No… I will not… succumb…!"

* * *

When this night vanished, the three-day respite would shatter. She was sitting on her bed, her thoughts reaching out to Xemnas. During these three days, she was too weak to even walk, but she didn't want to come out anyway, because if she did, she was bound to see _him_. And it would kill her internally. Mina sighed sadly, but no tears came out. Guess she had dried them up completely. Her mind was telling her to just let it go and forget about him. It's not like this relationship was going to be approved. She was talking about a love relationship between a lowly servant and her master here! She leaned her right temple against the wall next to her bed. She let out a hollow laugh and murmured, "Maybe I was wrong from the start…"

She looked up at the moon outside of the window. It was in its glory with its presence as the big bright full moon, while she was struggling in a deep abyss of sorrow. How ironic. Mina recalled the scenes where they sat by the piano with the moonlight pouring in through the window. The melody rang in her head, and she hummed it quietly. Those memories were supposed to be some of her happiest ones, but now it just seemed to stab her more than a thousand times at her tattered heart and soul. And then, she thought of her parents again, just the sheer thought of it would make her wince for the umpteenth time. "Xemnas…" she mumbled, casting her gaze at the bed again – "Poof."

Suddenly, a noise of a footstep stepping on the floor broke her trance. She tensed up and gasped. She was supposed to be alone in this room, so… who was it? Mina was about to spin around, but a blow hit her back of the neck, she then passed out before she could even see the intruder. She fell off the bed, but the intruder caught her in his arms. He sighed in relief, "Phew! I remain undiscovered… Anyways, you are not staying here anymore, girl… I should report to the master…"

* * *

The sun shone brightly down at the mansion, signaling morning had arrived. The maids and butlers were putting everything necessary into the carriage idling before the gate of the mansion. Ansem and his wife were standing at the gate. Today, Xemnas was supposed to go to that town to bring his wife-to-be back to the mansion with him. Xemnas was already in the carriage, clearly not amused, no, correction: not happy at all. Even though he masked everything under an emotionless mask, he glared at his father, who forced him into this without asking him. It's as if he was a tool to join his family with another millionaire's in another town. "Am I even his son?" he thought, utterly disgusted. Whoever this girl was going to be, he was deadly sure she wouldn't be the same as _her_, not her at all…

After the preparations were done, the carriage set off. The destination was several towns away from the mansion, so maybe it would take him three days. After three hours or so, the carriage entered a thick forest. The trees nearly blotted out the sunlight, making the atmosphere a bit eerie. The horses were getting restless at the eeriness, but the carriage was still moving forwards in the track. Xemnas was getting annoyed by the horses' neighs. Just then –

A group of men in black cloak darted out from the bushes. They seemed to have been waiting for an ambush all along. "Bandits!" The chauffeur screamed, and the men threw some lit firewood at the carriage and attacked at the people around it. Everyone scattered and ran for their lives. Xemnas was surprised, he felt the horses went wild, and he knew he had to get off the carriage before anything went astray. He jumped off the carriage and rolled on the ground. He saw the bandits chasing after the carriage and he slipped away, deeper into the forest.

Before he knew it, night came and he was alone in the vast forest. He had been wandering aimlessly around here, so he decided to sit down under a tree he found to take a break. Suddenly, a man emerged from the shadows and called out at him, "Yo!" Xemnas looked up immediately and saw the man removing the hood of his cloak. The person had a distinctive red hair with upside-down triangular birthmarks under each of his eyes. He had a sack draped over his shoulder. "Axel," said Xemnas, addressing the redhead before him.

"Wow! You really got my name memorized, not bad…" Axel stopped when he saw the other man glaring at him, annoyed. He laughed and said, "Anyways, here's what you wanted. And I guess me and my troops will take the carriage as the price then, fine with you?" Xemnas took the sack carefully from Axel, and he said, "Fine. And thank you so much for using a sack…" "Hey now, don't look at me like that, you said you wanted this operation to be secretive, master," Axel put his hands up defensively. "Whatever…"

And then, Axel left. Xemnas carried the sack in his arms and walked deeper into the forest. Soon, a cottage came into sight, and he entered it. After he shut the door and locked it up, he set the sack down and removed the sack, revealing Mina, unconscious. He let her lie down on a table nearby and when she finally woke up, she saw him dozed off at the corner. She pushed herself up, but her legs still hurt, causing her to groan in pain. He woke up at her voice and he quickly came over to check up on her. "What happened?" Mina asked first, totally surprised at her surroundings and him standing before her. He told her the truth: He planned to let Axel to kidnap her and escape that mansion secretly first. When his carriage reached the forest, his gang would attack them and he would slip away and find Axel to get her. That way people would believe Xemnas had disappeared in the forest before even reaching the destination, and the maid just ran away forever, simple as that.

She gave him a bone-crushing hug after the truth was revealed. Mina cried a little and wailed, "Don't ever do that again! You scared me…" He hugged her back protectively and reassured her, "Yes, I promise…"

After she broke away, she started to look around the cottage, and she spotted a small piano at the window, with moonlight shining in, illuminating it. She tried to stand up, but Xemnas helped her to the piano in the end. She limped and sat down on the chair to the piano and she opened its cover. "I intended to run away with you ever since I passed that note to you that night… So I bought a smaller one and hid it here, since no one was living here…" he explained, sitting down beside her.

Mina said nothing, but she started to play that tune again. The atmosphere went well with it and she was mesmerized again, melting in the notes bouncing off. When she reached the end of it, she leaned onto his shoulder and he slowly wrapped his arms around her. Mina sighed blissfully and felt relaxed. She heard him saying, "During these days, I had been researching, about the name of this music… and you know what?" "What?" she asked, getting up to look at him. He smiled just a little bit and replied, "I found it, at last." Her eyes were as wide as saucers, this man before her never ceased to surprise her, huh? "T-then… what is it? What's the name?"

"It is…" he trailed off, looking at her straight in the eyes, and she felt herself couldn't look away from those two pools of orange. She felt him closing in, and she could only blush, and then, his lips were on hers, surprisingly gentle and soft. She let her eyes fluttered close and melted into it. He put his hands on her waist, and hers were on both sides of his shoulders, playing with his hair. As much as she wanted it to last, but the desire for oxygen was getting out of hand, so they parted. They had their breaths slightly irregular. And she still couldn't tear away from his face. The moonlight did a marvelous job illuminating his face, making his features standing out gorgeously. She leaned in rested her head on his chest, feeling his heart beating against her softly yet firmly. She asked, "Can you answer me now?" He chuckled lightly and hugged her. He rested his chin on her head and said, "… Moonlight Sonata."

"Moonlight Sonata…" Mina let this new term roll off her tongue. And then she had the urge to ask another question, "But, why? Why… did you bother to find out?" "Now why would you ask that?" he whispered. She wrapped her hands tighter around him, and replied, "Well… um, I thought you… didn't really like me? Even with the note…" He returned the hug just as tightly, and he said, "Haven't I convinced you earlier? Because I love you, Mina…" She slipped your eyes closed and replied, "I love you too, Xemnas."

**The End**

* * *

**A/N: Oh yeah! The fourth one~ Phew... Disclaimer: I DO NOT OWN KINGDOM HEARTS, BUT I OWN THIS STORY'S PLOT! I hope you enjoyed reading this.**


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